Cu-decorating on N, P-Codoped porous carbon derived from wheat straw as advanced catalysts for N-alkylation of amines with alcohols

Abstract

The design and fabrication of highly efficient, cheap, and stable heterogeneous catalyst for the advancement of sustainable organic transformation is a crucial goal in both academic research and industry. Herein, an efficient catalyst based on Cu-decorating on a N, P-codoped porous carbon(Cu/NPC) derived from wheat straw was successfully synthesized by a cost-effective method. The as-prepared Cu/NPC showed superior catalytic activity for the N-alkylation of amines with alcohols via the borrowing hydrogen strategy. A variety of aromatic amines were converted into the corresponding secondary amines in moderate to excellent yields. Noted that, such catalyst can be easily prepared, recovered and recycled four times without obvious loss in both activity and selectivity.